I just talked to a former co-worker of mine at a mom and pop electronic retailer yesterday and he said that he had spoken to a Panasonic rep. The rep said that 4K plasmas may be in the works. They only that is holding them back is that they are waiting on the finalization of HDMI 2.0.

This doesn't make any sense since Panasonic decided to shut down their R and D department and shifted all their engineers to OLED development.

Head over to another forum and read the comments made by the insider who is a high ranking US Panasonic official. Sales rep is totally wrong - that question has been asked and answered numerous times. It is all about 4k LEDs and OLED - unfortunately. Buy a plasma while you can - another year and that may be the end.

I suppose that I am slightly skeptical about the future of plasmas myself; I would expect there to be some new panasonics for 2014, but perhaps a more limited selection, and still more limited by 2015. All this is purely spectultive.

I suppose that I am slightly skeptical about the future of plasmas myself; I would expect there to be some new panasonics for 2014, but perhaps a more limited selection, and still more limited by 2015. All this is purely spectultive.

I suppose that I am slightly skeptical about the future of plasmas myself; I would expect there to be some new panasonics for 2014, but perhaps a more limited selection, and still more limited by 2015. All this is purely spectultive.

I for one don't expect to be huge leaps in 2014 plasmas. If Panasonic decides to exit Plasma, they may use 2014 as a bridge year and give new models with little to no PQ improvement. They're going to want to transition their loyal plasma customers to something else (OLED?). If thats what they plan on doing, they cannot afford to make a Plasma that competes for a fraction of the price strategically. If pana exits plasma, then the selection of mid to high end Plasmas gets seriously narrowed.

I expect Samsung will improve upon the F8500 (probably better blacks or something). So, there WILL be Plasma options in 2014, but maybe not as many options as before. If Pana makes plasmas in 2014, I bet the range of models will reduce even further. Probably no s64 replacement, perhaps no zt60 replacement. May come down to 3 models.. S, ST, VT in the USA. This is all wild speculation BTW. The entire plasma industry won't die all of a sudden -- didn't it take until 2012 for RPTV to die?

I remember being a lurker on these forums years ago reading comments from people going to wait another year to take the plunge on some model of KURO. Then, all of a sudden, seemingly without warning, KURO was no more. Thats why I stocked up on Plasmas this year (while there was a seeming abundance of choice)

Head over to another forum and read the comments made by the insider who is a high ranking US Panasonic official. Sales rep is totally wrong - that question has been asked and answered numerous times. It is all about 4k LEDs and OLED - unfortunately. Buy a plasma while you can - another year and that may be the end.

I just talked to a former co-worker of mine at a mom and pop electronic retailer yesterday and he said that he had spoken to a Panasonic rep. The rep said that 4K plasmas may be in the works. They only that is holding them back is that they are waiting on the finalization of HDMI 2.0.

This doesn't make any sense since Panasonic decided to shut down their R and D department and shifted all their engineers to OLED development.

Hopefully I am wrong. I really want a 4K plasma in the near future.

I hope they keep plasma TV's around,if they 4k to really to survive Plasma TV's is they to go.

I remember being a lurker on these forums years ago reading comments from people going to wait another year to take the plunge on some model of KURO. Then, all of a sudden, seemingly without warning, KURO was no more. Thats why I stocked up on Plasmas this year (while there was a seeming abundance of choice)

I believe 2014 will be the last year for Panasonic plasmas. I think they will largely be a carry-over from the 2013 models but perhaps a bit brighter and maybe slightly better blacks, but I think they will be very close to this year's models.

I think Samsung will continue longer with the F8500 platform and refine it.

Not sure how long Panasonic will produce Plasmas, heck I am not totally sure even Panasonic knows as of now. It will probably depend on whether they are meeting their sales targets or not. At any point they may stop or extremely limit production, especially if sales are not there, which they don't seem to be on the VT/ZT. The ST's seem to be selling really well though.

The Panasonic Insider has said they will produce 2014 Plasma's but will not say what the line will consist of. My thought is there may not be a ZT, but definitely a S, ST and most likely a VT. They seem to be transitioning their LED's into playing a bigger role in their TV line. I have read that they plan to announce their 4K LED's at IFA in Sept. My guess is that they hope the increased income from the 4K's and increased LED production will tide them over until OLED can become more of a money maker. The only problem with this is that their current LED's are not that good. If no one is paying attention to your LED's how can you just jump in the market and hope to be a major player in 4K LED's ?

I believe 2014 will be the last year for Panasonic plasmas. I think they will largely be a carry-over from the 2013 models but perhaps a bit brighter and maybe slightly better blacks, but I think they will be very close to this year's models.

I think Samsung will continue longer with the F8500 platform and refine it.

Amen to that. So pretty much 2014 will be the last of mohicans. 2013 as well assuming that the 2014 will be the same in terms of picture quality.

A little different now. Panasonic has stopped R&D, turning focus/efforts to 4k LED and OLED. Safe bet that they are out of the plasma business in a year or two max. That will leave Samsung and LG, which really leaves only Samsung for those of us who value quality/performance. Once OLED is refined within the next few years plasma will have been surpassed and then no one will have a reason to keep making them. You've been on this forum for a long time, you really think that plasma will be around much longer based on what you've been reading about the business?

A little different now. Panasonic has stopped R&D, turning focus/efforts to 4k LED and OLED. Safe bet that they are out of the plasma business in a year or two max. That will leave Samsung and LG, which really leaves only Samsung for those of us who value quality/performance. Once OLED is refined within the next few years plasma will have been surpassed and then no one will have a reason to keep making them. You've been on this forum for a long time, you really think that plasma will be around much longer based on what you've been reading about the business?

I know the hundreds of thousands of plasma tvs sold at $500-$1000 are not going to be replaced by OLED or "4K" anything, anytime soon, and companies do not throw away market share while they "come up with something new".

You are over estimating the importance market as it stands today and how many of those people who bought a plasma would just buy an LED without a plasma option. We are a small group as it relates to market share - group meaning people who recognize the advantages of plasma. Remember too as far as plasma goes Panasonic's financial health is similar to Pioneer at this stage. Even more similarities between the two regarding what execs are saying and did say.

Pray for plasma and OLED in 2014. Beware of the coming LCD only worldwide domination horror story apocalyptic holocaust!

The world is on the brink of only LCD that sux! Who can take it?!

Obviously there will still be some plasmas next year, and OLED is pretty guaranteed to make some strides in 2014.

The real question is how limited will the selection be. If Panasonic wanted to increase their profit margins on plasmas they could consider narrowing their production to only the most popular sizes/display technology. The problem with this is that it might be end of the line for some plasma shoppers. In theory though this could lead to a downward spiral: smaller niche that buys plasma, fewer units sell making plasma even less profitable when compared against other displays. But the process would take a while.

You are over estimating the importance market as it stands today and how many of those people who bought a plasma would just buy an LED without a plasma option. We are a small group as it relates to market share - group meaning people who recognize the advantages of plasma. Remember too as far as plasma goes Panasonic's financial health is similar to Pioneer at this stage. Even more similarities between the two regarding what execs are saying and did say.

I would agree that plasma owners are definitely a niche group. I occasianally hear of a peer purchasing a plasma, largely by accident. Most of my peer group just don't care about pq, they just plug and play without any change in settings. My colleague just purchased a new Samsung 70" LED and prefers to watch it in dynamic mode as it "looks great."

This is a long way of saying that the plasma tv market is not strong enough to support further investment by Panasonic.

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Who is making Panasonic LCD/LED panels ? I believe LG is making Sony 4K and some other 2K panels now and panels for other makers looks like LG has good panel business .
I bought my first plasma this year (good picture ) but have been reading about them for a while I have 3 LCD/LED and one Plasma .

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ABL settings `weak`, medium & strong
Even brighter, achieving what the samsung 8500 is capable of which is the brightest plasma on the market.
16ms of input lag
better motion handeling + less dithering. CRT is still the king in this area.

At this point, i don`t need better black levels. the S60`s are good enough.

I would agree that plasma owners are definitely a niche group. I occasianally hear of a peer purchasing a plasma, largely by accident. Most of my peer group just don't care about pq, they just plug and play without any change in settings. My colleague just purchased a new Samsung 70" LED and prefers to watch it in dynamic mode as it "looks great."

This is a long way of saying that the plasma tv market is not strong enough to support further investment by Panasonic.

haha- my friend bought a 65" LED and they also "thinks it looks great, except we have to turn down the brightness when watching hockey" I swear my eyes hurt when I leave his house after we watch TV for a couple fo hours

The Panasonic Insider has said they will produce 2014 Plasma's but will not say what the line will consist of. My thought is there may not be a ZT, but definitely a S, ST and most likely a VT. They seem to be transitioning their LED's into playing a bigger role in their TV line. I have read that they plan to announce their 4K LED's at IFA in Sept. My guess is that they hope the increased income from the 4K's and increased LED production will tide them over until OLED can become more of a money maker.